CALIFORNIA: A group of Iraqi Christians seeking asylum in the US, detained by the immigration authorities.

According to details, a group of about 20 Iraqi Christians who were seeking asylum in the US as they had fled from ISIS have been detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over four months now.According to an international news source, these 20 imprisoned Christians have been detained for a strangely long time now.

Moreover, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE have still not provided explanations for their extended detention so far. Weirdly, despite the fact that these detained Chaldean Christians have family members who are willing to sponsor them in San Diego County.

On the other hand, after public outrage and protests over their extended imprisonment ICE issued a statement saying: Given ICE’s limited detention resources and the agency’s policy of holding those who are public safety threats or flight risks, the vast majority of foreign nationals arrested by ICE are, in fact, released under supervision while their cases are pending. ICE’s statement also clarified that the decision on whom to release would be made once the case is reviewed.

Seeing this state of affairs, a group staged a protest outside the Otay Detention Facility to call for the release of the 20 Chaldeans, last month.Likewise, a US based activist for the Chaldean community, Mark Arabo, told an international news source that ICE claimed it didn’t have adequate resources to process the Chaldeans’ claims.

He further added that ICE’s explanation is doubtful. “We are talking to the state department and the White House and Congress and we are putting pressure to make sure they release those 20 innocent people,” Arabo said.

“They’ve escaped living hell. Let’s allow them to reunite with their families,” Arabo emphasized.